N1bn Railway Pension Fraud: 11 staff indicted
By Adetokunbo Fakeye
Eleven officers in the finance, legal and audit departments of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) according to News Agency of Nigeria report have been indicted over a billion naira missing pension fund in the corperation.
This was disclosed on Sunday in Lagos by a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“A total sum of over one billion naira has been discovered missing from the Nigerian Railway Corporation Pension Fund over a period of three years.
“A number of staff and other top management personnel of the corporation have already been indicted by NRC management over the missing fund,’’the source said, adding that the revelation came to light after an internal investigation conducted by the management of the corporation on the pension fund.
“It was discovered that through acts of fraud, financial recklessness, miss-appropriation and conspiracy, the said sum was diverted by some officials of the corporation.
“Investigations revealed that the management instituted an internal enquiry into the management of the corporation’s pension fund during which these shocking discoveries were made,” it said.
The source said further that the management of NRC had forwarded its report to the new Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
The names of the suspected culprits and recommendations on how to recover the missing fund from the culprits according to an insider were part of the report.